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Saliva affects the antifungal activity of exogenously added histatin 3 towards Candida albicans.

Yamagishi H, Fitzgerald DH, Sein T, Walsh TJ, O'Connell BC

Gene Therapy and Therapeutics Branch, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Antifungal activity of histatin 3 against two Candida albicans clinical isolates was determined in assays containing rabbit submandibular gland saliva. Histatin 3 inhibited the cell growth and germination of both isolates dose-dependently (10-100 microg ml(-1)) with maximum inhibition occurring after 60 min incubation. Adding fresh histatin 3 after 60 min caused further reduction in the viable cell count. Higher histatin 3 concentrations (50-100 microg ml(-1)) and prolonged exposure to peptide were required to inhibit germination. Histatin 3 was rapidly degraded in rabbit submandibular gland saliva and this may explain why fresh addition of histatin 3 increases candidacidal activity.

Published 24 February 2005 in FEMS Microbiol Lett, 244(1): 207-12.
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